Korea, Argentina Entertain; Green Shows He’s Ready For Arsenal Role!

The World Cup is turning out to be better than expected, and fingers crossed I don’t jinx it by saying that. After being tortured by Inter Milan in the Champions League with some extremely boring, highly tactical anti-football these matches feel like a breath of fresh air.

Korea opened the day with a good win over an inept Greece. I was really worried that the Europeans will turn up to defend in numbers, a formula that won them the Euro 2004. Thankfully, they were quite prepared to play, although that did lead to their downfall and their fans would be wondering if prioritizing defence might have been a better tactical choice.

Korea had better talent on the pitch and that made the difference as the Greeks made some individual errors while the Asian players capitalized. In particular, Park Ji Sung’s goal deserves special mention as he pounced on a poor touch and rode a couple of challenges before sliding it expertly between the keeper and a lunging defender.

Greece just didn’t have any quality in the final third and some of their players looked disinterested. I can’t see them troubling Argentina and they will need massive improvement if they want to avoid a whitewash.

Argentina are one of my favourite teams, not as potential winners but just as a team I love to watch. To be frank, I thought they started with a ridiculous formation and starting eleven. Playing Higuain, Tevez, and Di Maria alongside Messi didn’t make any sense.

The world’s best player is the best by quite some distance and he showed his class once again even though his record of not scoring for the national side from open play now stretches to ten games. Only a man of the match performance from Vincent Enyeama kept the Argentine genius out of the scoresheet.

The tactical weakness of Maradona’s formation can be seen from the amount of work done by Messi and the contribution of others. The Barcelona star had 100+ touches and 65 completed passes in the game which is the second highest in the tournament so far. This was far higher than the midfielders Veron and Mascherano. It was also higher than Tevez and almost 4 times the successful passes by Di Maria, who looked woefully out of place in this system.

Normally, at Barcelona, the midfield does a lot more work and Messi thrives as a creative and destructive force.

Even their defence is extremely weak and this system didn’t provide sufficient cover for the back four. Nigeria created plenty of half chances and a better final ball or finishing skills could easily have seen them sharing the spoils.

On the basis of this performance I can’t see Argentina winning the Cup but all their games will be fun to watch so I’m hoping they get some luck and progress to the latter stages.

The final game was the most hyped encounter of the day as England took on the USA. Many observers, especially those that have been following the US team, believed that the Americans could challenge one of the pre-tournament favourites and Bardley’s team didn’t disappoint.

Capello needs some serious rethink if he wants to win the Cup as this performance showed England need a lot of improvement. I can’t believe England keep playing B-level strikers like Heskey and Crouch in big games when Rooney has done so well as a target man for United and England have far better midfielders than they have strikers! It’s a waste of one critical spot in the team and puts extra pressure on the others.

The fact that Terry had the maximum number of passes for England shows how badly they are missing a midfielder who can pull the strings. It’s a different matter that Arsene hasn’t developed one and so England don’t really have anyone who can do the job!

In the second half England were much more positive and dominated most of the play. If they had better composure and finishing skills they might have scored a couple of goals but credit goes to the American players for a hard working and intelligent defensive performance.

Of course, the biggest talking point of the game and Capello’s worst nightmare was a moment when Robert Green decided to apply for the goalkeeping role at Arsenal. A lapse in concentration and poor technique while under no pressure is the perfect combination for us and Arsene will probably get a good deal on Green after this blooper!

On a more serious note we have to realize that there are very few top quality keepers out there who can perform consistently under pressure. James has always been inconsistent and now Green has joined that list. Hart is third choice even though Capello sees them in training all the time so he can’t be all that better.

I don’t really care about England but it is a serious problem for Arsene and we can only hope he finds the right solution.

Tomorrow’s games will present some interesting battles. I don’t know anything about Algeria or Slovenia so I’ll just watch out for Majid Bougherra. Le Boss had some kinds words for him and we need plenty of defenders. Will he be one of them?

Serbia and Ghana is also likely to be a tussle between strong, organized defences so keep an eye on that one as well. Obviously Subotic, if he starts, will be the man to watch.

In the final game Germany take on Australia. That one is going to be a real battle as both teams have a fantastic fighting spirit and never say die attitude. Hopefully, we will get a look at Mesut Özil.

we should sign the nigerian goalkeeper. Even though he conceded a goal – one he possibly couldnt stop – he made amazing saves against the likes of messi and higuain. Having seen some Nigerian games, Enyeama? has never made a mistake. Arsene sign him up

They had silverware last year too and the year before that and so on because they have been winning the Italian League and other trophies as well.

You have a right to your opinion and I won’t comment on it but I’m not a glory hunter and I don’t care about trophies that are bought by financial doping or stolen by anti-football or worse a combination of both.

Enyeama is currently transfer listed by Hapoel Tel Aviv and is available for ~£2m. 27 years old, constantly improving and possessing strong leadership qualities, I actually believe signing him would be a great move for Arsenal.

I can see blogs going crazy that a guy not wanted by an Israeli club is being signed by Arsene, lol.

Frankly, I don’t want to form an opinion after just one game mainly because there was no proof that he has better aerial ability than the keepers we have.

Have you followed him regularly? “constantly improving and possessing strong leadership qualities” doesn’t go with being “transfer listed by Happoel Tel Aviv.” Do you know why the club want to sell him?

I can understand that you have difficulty in accepting something that does not conform to your worldviews. i know you’d prefer the Lloris, Greens and Schwarzers of this world because they dont flap at freekicks nad of course you know tham quite well. But I am not sure how many of them will come away unscathed in 45 minutes of football against Lionel messsi. A mature comment should have been Let Us wait and See because I Dont Know Much About him

Do you also know that in the recently concluded Israeli League, He was voted the Best Player? Not best goalkeeper but Best Player. he takes his teams penalties nad he doesnt miss. if that is not leadership then tell me what is. If i have an oppertunity of cashing in on my best asset why shouldnt i do it? its like saying Wayne rooney is a bad player because Everton were ready to sell a couple of years ago.

Just because a guy has an obviously empty presence of mind to satrt a blog spewing mindless opinions about what he thinks is right shouldnt make him an expert on football matters.
You talk about making assumptions, can you tell me about assumption i made that is not backed up with facts. if someone is making vague assumptions it should be you because with all of your vaunted expert opinion you haven given one inch of fact.
Voltaire says “I may not agree with what you say but i will defend …. your right to say it” Funny that it is always the beneficiaries of free speech that wants to stop others from uaing it.
And talking about funny names, I am sure you are aware that as an arsenal supporter you are supposd to be a GOONER not a GUNNER.
Dont take it heart, its a general mistake of the Glory Hunters.

“The fact that Terry had the maximum number of passes for England shows how badly they are missing a midfielder who can pull the strings. It’s a different matter that Arsene hasn’t developed one and so England don’t really have anyone who can do the job!”

He has. He’s just a bit too young to have made this tournament. I wouldn’t be too surprised if in 4 years time young Jack isn’t running England’s midfield. Possibly alongside Rodwell who, hopefully, will also be an Arsenal player by that stage.

Anyway, he should have played Carrick if Barry wasn’t fit enough. We’re all familiar with the Gerrard/Lampard headless chicken routine. I wonder why Capello reverted back to a set up that England wisely abandoned several years ago.

Also, watching SWP’s display must have had Theo fuming. How an earth did he lose out to that shower of shite?

I’d say he is in the process of developing one. 4-5 years is a long time and I’m a little worried the English media might screw Wilshere in the same way they do Walcott, who must be going ballistic no doubt!

Also, on Enyema – I don’t think we need another looks-quite-good-on-occasions-but-lacks-consistency-whilst-also-being-liable-to-drop-an-absolute-clanger-at-any-moment type goalkeeper. It’s either proven top draw or stick with what we’ve got.

Hopefully after tonight the ‘Almunia out, Green in’ brigade will pipe down. The truth is it’s very hard to find keepers with both the skills and the mentality to play at a top club. How long did it take Fergie to properly replace Schmeichel, 6 years? In that time he went through Bosnich, Taibi, Ricardo, Barthez, and Roy fecking Carroll, amongst others, and it’s only since they got VDS in 2005 that they’ve started winning the big prizes again. Coincidence? Maybe, but I’m sure he’s had a big impact on the consistency of the team. Something we still lack.

i see you are bitter about no silverware… oh well i guess we all have different tastes on football
maybe in a few years when the arsenal squad matures a bit you will get trophies.
i am an inter fan so i felt a bit off when you criticized our style
i admire arsenal a lot and thats why i read your blog but after your response i can tell that you dont share the same thoughts as me…what a shame

It also drowns out the real atmosphere. The ebbs and flows of the game that are reflected in the oohs and aahs and various reactions of the crowd are completely drowned out. They’re not as annoying as I thought they would be (only because you become desensitized after a while) but they do seem to give every a game a kind of eery feeling with the constant drone.

I would prefer it if they were only allowed during the SA games. It’s their World Cup but it’s also the ‘world’s cup’ and I’m sure most people would prefer genuine stadium atmosphere.

I’d thought about that but then I felt there might not be that much of an ooh-aah atmosphere there as most fans would be local and they might not react in the same way or as passionately as say the club fans do. I mean Algeria-Slovenia, just an example, might not have an atmosphere if not for these things.

Of course, games like England-USA would have been better off without this din. The fans’ chants were definitely drowned out in that one.

I’d say lets get it right for a year or two and then worry about what happens later! There will be many changes in this period due to the new financial regulations and general crunch that all clubs are facing.

I`m with Nimz, the racket does not enhance the game just gives me a bloody headache, it was like a hive of bees buzzing in my head. Next time I turn it off and go back to bed.
As for Arsenal getting a goalkeeper, I`d be happy with Tim Howard or Joe Hart the rest can do their own thing. On the perforance in general. England simply don`t have the talent and they`re not fit. The Yanks played the old fashioned `long ball` and ran the pants off them with three stikers and sheer pace.

enyeama is not only the best player in the last isreali league he also won the best goalker award, and scored 7 goals from the spot kicks, he is far better than almunia, green, fabianski, james, and so many others in the epl. he is also a good free kick taker, just like chilavet.